«Many people read, talk, or watch TV while exercising to make the time go by faster. However, to get the most healing benefits from walking, Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches us that the mind should be focused, thus walking becomes a Qi Gong exercise known as walking meditation. Walking meditation is a simple yet profound healing experience; no distractions, just awareness. It’s not about talking or socializing or thinking while you’re walking; your mind is peacefully presente and relaxed.»***

Midnight
on the Chogo Lungma La. Moonlight. The steady sweep of the icy blizzards of the
north cuts through canvas and eiderdown and fur. Roland Rex, peering out for a
moment from his tiny tent upon the stupendous beauty of the snows, almost
wonders that the stars can stand before the blast. Yet, dimly and afar, a speck
of life stirs on those illimitable wastes. How minute is a man in such solitudes!
Yet how much man means to man! No avalanche, not the very upheaval of the
deep-rooted mountains, could have held his attention so close as did that dot
upon the wilderness of snow.

So
far it was, so heavy the weight of the wind, so steep and slippery the slopes,
that dawn had broken ere the speck resolved itself into a man. Tall and rugged,
his black hair woven into a web over his eyes to protect them from the Pain of
the Snows, as the natives call the fearful fulminating snow blindness of the
giant peaks, his feet wrapped round and round with strips of leather and cloth,
he approached the little camp.

Patient
and imperturbable are these men who face the majesty of the great mountains:
experience has taught them it is useless to be angry with the snowstorm. A
blizzard may persist for a week; to conquer it one must be ready to persist for
many weeks.

By
this time he had distanced himself from the ‘wan spirituality’ of his
largely female Theosophist supporters: ‘I know that I have only to let out a
little pseudo-Swami-yogi-Rishi-Pranayana Wanamanaism to fetch both people and money…
but this sort of Kagmag would push us right off the trail’, he wrote in August
1923 to A. C. Garrad, a Kinsman who took Eastern esoterica very seriously and
must have felt rather taken aback by the comment. As a virile leader, Hargrave
was drawn towards ‘magic’ rather than ‘spirituality’ – a perfect example of
Alex Owens’ insight than in turn-of-the-century England ‘magic and mysticism
were in effect subtly gendercoded, with magic – “intellectual, aggressive and
scientific” – assuming a masculine status’: mysticism, by contrast, was
‘associated with emotionalism, a sense of rapture, which did not accord with
the intellect-driven will to know characterizing the magical endeavour’. Later
in life Hargrave was even more critical of Theosophy’s perceived wishy-washyness.
He recalled the Dutch youth leader Baron von Pallandt as having “the vague aura
of post-war theosophiscal seeking… thought-form wisps floating in a mystical
blue haze’. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence was one of many later dismissed as
‘drenched in hesitancy, mistaken for reflective wisdom’. Rudolf Steiner was not
only weak but completely dead: ‘I heard Dr. Rudolf Steiner speak in London in
German’, Hargrave recalled. ‘I understood not a word but I knew the man.
Afterwards I shook hands with him. Then I knew I was right – a “dead” man. A
bright, white intellectual light shining through a corpse: the light
illuminating nothing except the busy complicated intellectual mechanism of this
living dead man. Just a little uncanny because he has killed himself long
before he died.’

What
then was the nature of the occult magic that Hargrave professed, in preference
to wishy-washy Theosophy? The presiding flavor was Rosicrucian Hermetic
knowledge, a kind of robust magic that depend on a select band od ‘adepts’, a
chosen few who were party to secret esoteric knowledge and who maintained bonds
of brotherhood through initiation ceremonies and ritual, passing their magical
powers down through time in secret runes and diagrams*. Embedded in this
world-view was the notion of two levels of knowledge: esoteric knowledge – only
available to those who had demonstrated their fitness to handle it; and
exoteric knowledge, which was translated into a form able to be absorbed by the
unilluminated masses. The exoteric/esoteric split was fundamental to much of
Hargrave’s later politics, and although as a general principle it might seem to
betray his own belief in self-education, it partly reflected his view that some
people just could not cope with the disturbance to their psyche that some
knowledge would cause. Esoteric knowledge was only to be circulated amongst
those who could ‘eat good and evil without indigestion’, or who could ‘stand
the abyss’, phrases he used when discussing a candidate for initiation into one
of the Kindred’s male lodges.

The
second thing Hargrave drew from the occult was a profound sense of mission,
above and beyond his immediate task of helping the English nation after the
catastrophe of the First World War. His work was now part of ‘the Great Game’,
the battle between good and evil that had been tumbling down through the
centuries and which had played out through many manifestations of art, science
and philosophy across many civilisations. (…) He saw himself as one of the
illuminated ones, a spirit chief whose reach stretched far beyond the tribe,
and whose facility with reading symbols went far beyond woodcraft. Occultism
inflated Hargrave’s tendency to take himself very seriously indeed.

The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift was to be the practical realization of all these
esoteric beliefs, but they came together initially in a small group of men that
Hargrave formed in 1919 and that he named the ‘Ndembo Lodge’. The name ‘Ndembo’
had appeared in The Great War Brings It
Home as an example of a tribal council from Western Congo. In 1919 was more
or less exactly that, a tribal council – albeit operating from Chesham Bois in
Buckinghamshire and overseeing a tribe made up from Baden Powell’s Boy Scouts. Hargrave
had drawn around him a group of like-minded Scoutmasters, all party to the
woodcraft plots being hatched by White Fox and Seeonee Wolf. (…)

By
1922 the group had assumed a more religious look and feel. ‘Camps’ had become ‘conclaves’,
attendees wore monk-like ‘vestments’ made from sackcloth (…).

[ROSS
& BENNETT, 2015: 30-31]

Kibbo Kift hike formation (c.1928)

NOTE

*Hargrave's
comments about the practical magic of images and objects are particularly
interesting in relation to the naming of the Kibbo Kift's symbolic visual
insignia, later in the 1920s, as 'sigils'. In particular the word was used for
the circular devices designed by Hargrave to be embroidered onto ceremonial
costumes. (...) The sigil is claimed by occultists to have a long history but
it was popularised – if not invented – as a practice of spell-making through
design in the writings of London artist Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956). Spare
had received his creative training at the Royal College of Art and his occult
knowledge from Crowley. Although there is no evidence in Kibbo Kift papers that
Spare and Hargrave ever met, they could certainly have crossed paths in the
tight social circles of London's interwar occult networks. Spare's theory
of sigil magic, first published in his Book of Pleasure in 1913, certainly corresponds with Hargrave’s use of the
visual as a form of magical persuasion. [POLLEN, 2015: 156]

At the most mystical of all woodcraft groups,
Kibbo Kift’s practices – even at the most mudane level – were steeped in magic
and ritual. The ceremonial method of organization established new traditions
that lent coherence and formality to Kin activities, and provided a structure
rooted in common custom rather than military drill or committee method. The
Kindred drew on mythology and folklore sourced from geographically and historically
diverse cultural and spiritual traditions; as with their design inspirations,
these were characteristically adapted into new forms, blended with the latest
thinking in art, science and philosophy, and brought to earth in the English landscape.
Always original and sometimes secret, Kibbo Kift’s elaborate and poetic rituals
were devised to lend a sacred quality to all areas of group life from the
making and breaking of camp, to the cooking of meals and the lighting of fires;
hikes were reconfigured as pilgrimages and membership induction was recast as
initiation. Combined with the newness and strangeness of Kin costume and
language, the effect was otherworldly, even religious. Hargrave and many other
Kinsfolk sought and found spiritual nourishment in the Kindred. Like all Kibbo
Kift’s operation, however, their belief system stood firmly apart from existing
structures. A consequence of this rebellion against spiritual convention was
that Kibbo Kift earned a reputation as something of a cult; certainly its
embrace of no-Christian ritual practices was as controversial in the period as
its non-segregated camping practices, its skimpy exercise costumes and its
plainspoken ideas about sex education. Many ceremonial practices were concealed
behind the public face of the Kindred for this reason, and further rites were
only shared among selected, closed lodges within the larger membership. In more
open-minded times, and with access to previously inaccessible documents, Kibbo
Kift’s littleknow and little-understood myth, magic and mysticism can be
repositioned as fundamentally important aspect of the organization.

Free access to the open countryside for all citizens
is a fundamental aim of the European Ramblers’ Association (ERA). Therefore ERA
promotes a Europe wide free and easy access to nature, further investment in
the development of marked paths and the integration of walkers’ interests in
planning and legal regulations.

The outdoor experiences of walkers are affected by
several factors such as: -the protection of the natural and cultural heritage
-the rights of private and public landowners -the interests of other users
Negative developments are disturbance by motorized activity, short-sighted
planning, access fees and other unjustified limitations to access.

Experiencing the outdoor environment and the cultural
landscape induces a greater awareness of nature and a better attitude towards
environmental protection.

Walking in the open countryside is a simple, natural
and climate friendly way of discovering nature and the cultural heritage of
Europe. Therefore access to the countryside for walkers requires special
attention and support.

Paths are essential parts of the infrastructure for
easy access to nature and form the basis for walking in Europe. The economic
effects resulting from this form of activity are substantial in rural
development. Moreover, attractive paths have the effect of canalizing visitors
to a sustainable use of the natural environment.

Free access to the natural environment is a benefit
which demands proper and responsible behaviour in the natural environment. The
ERA acknowledges the interests of landowners and stands for a respectful
treatment of nature and Europe’s cultural heritage.

Walking in Europe contributes to the greater
understanding between the nations and nourishes European integration. Through
direct contact with people from other cultures, prejudices can be mitigated and
mutual respect encouraged.

In accordance with the aims and goals of the ERA, as
stated in its constitution, the members meeting in Hässleholm/Sweden in
September 2016 puts forward the following:

1.Access to
nature must in principle be free of charge so that everyone can experience
Europe’s natural environment and its cultural heritage.

2.Only
transparent justifiable limitations of this right of access can be recognized
and accepted.

3.In planning
and legal regulations in European countries, the interests of walkers must be
taken into account and the regional and national organizations which are part
of the ERA network must be involved.

4.The
contribution to sustainable development through walking must be recognized and
supported through investment in the creation, maintenance and development of
marked paths and care for the open countryside.

The European Ramblers’ Association (ERA) was founded
in 1969, comprises 58 ramblers’ organizations from 32 European states. ERA
members represent more than hundred years of experience in organizing and
creating conditions to facilitate walking (path marking, access, construction
of huts, viewing towers, campsites etc.). These organisations have a total of
over 3 million individual members.